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Grossly censored songs


Udo

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I'm not talking about bleeped songs, I'm talking about songs with whole sections removed. I can think of two examples:

Neither of these videos have are censored versions. I haven't heard these versions on the radio in a long time.

Miracles by Jefferson Starship [sexually explicit lyrics]

Money for Nothing by Dire Straits [lyrics using an epithet against homosexuals]

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I have heard censored versions of both Lyin' Eyes by the Eagles and Follow Me by Uncle Kracker, leaving out 1 or more stanzas of each song, both having to do with adulterous affairs:

Lyin Eyes:

On the other side of town a boy is waiting

With firey eyes and dreams no one could steal

She drives on through the night anticipating

Cause he makes her feel the way she used to feel

She rushes to his arms, they fall together

She whispers it's only for a while

She swears that soon she'll be coming back forever

She pulls away and leaves him with a smile

Follow Me:

I'm not worried bout the ring you wear

Cuz as long as no one knows then

Nobody can care

You're feelin' guilty and I'm well aware

But you don't look ashamed and baby

I'm not scared

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[smaller] from the wikipedia article [/smaller] . Let's Spend The Night Together:

"In one of the more famous examples of musical censorship, on The Ed Sullivan Show, the band ( [smaller]Rolling Stones[/smaller]) was initially refused permission to perform the number. Sullivan himself told Jagger, "Either the song goes or you go". A compromise was reached to substitute the words "let's spend some time together" in place of "let's spend the night together"; Jagger agreed to change the lyrics but ostentatiously rolled his eyes at the TV camera whilst singing them."

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I'm not worried bout the ring you wear

Cuz as long as no one knows then

Nobody can care

You're feelin' guilty and I'm well aware

But you don't look ashamed and baby

I'm not scared

I've never heard this verse of lyin eye's ever, which is ridiculous in 2008 really.

I can't think of any songs that have had verses taken out off the top of my head but I know "Brown Eyed Girl" was meant to be "Brown Skinned Girl", but the concept of a mixed race relationship was too much in 1967 apparently so it had to change.

Bizarrely some quite controversial songs got radio play in Britain because or censors didn't notice things. Like they somehow managed to miss the many references to transvestism and drugs in "Walk On The Wild Side". And "Space Oditty" by David Bowie was taken off the radio because of the space programme going on at the time not because it is one huge reference to someone dying of a heroin over dose (hence "we know major Toms A Junky" in "Ashes to Ashes")

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[smaller] from the wikipedia article [/smaller] . Let's Spend The Night Together:

"In one of the more famous examples of musical censorship, on The Ed Sullivan Show, the band ( [smaller]Rolling Stones[/smaller]) was initially refused permission to perform the number. Sullivan himself told Jagger, "Either the song goes or you go". A compromise was reached to substitute the words "let's spend some time together" in place of "let's spend the night together"; Jagger agreed to change the lyrics but ostentatiously rolled his eyes at the TV camera whilst singing them."

Right on, Zooks. Then there were The Doors who took a slightly different approach. Here, from CNN.com.....

"We watched every week to see the rock 'n' roll band," Manzarek remembers. "So my wife and I are watching the show, and Ed says, 'Next week, Steve and Eydie, Topo Gigio, and a new rock group called the Doors. [The next day] we get a call from our manager telling us we're going to be on Sullivan. We said, 'We know.' "

There was a catch, though. The band was to perform its chart-topping hit, "Light My Fire," but Sullivan didn't want the word "higher" sung on the show. The demand was passed down through one of the show's producers, who met the group in the dressing room. Manzarek remembers the band publicly agreeing like choirboys.

" 'Yes, sir,' we told him," he recalls. "'Whatever you say, sir. We'll change.' [The producer] looked at Jim and said, 'You're the poet. Think of something else -- 'wire,' 'flyer.' "

Then the Doors went out and did the song exactly as they always did. Sullivan was so furious he didn't even shake their hands.

When the Doors got backstage, they learned they wouldn't be back -- ever. "The producer said, 'You promised,' and we said, 'We were so nervous, we're just boys, we've done it a thousand times, it just came out.' He looked at Morrison and said, 'Mr. Sullivan liked you boys. He wanted you on six more times. ... You'll never do the Sullivan show again.' "

To which Morrison retorted with glee, "We just did the Sullivan show." In other words, been there, done that.

The ban didn't hurt the Doors' career, of course. The group's albums continued to go Top 10 and they had another No. 1 single, "Hello I Love You," the next summer. But they never did appear on Sullivan again -- a distinction that has helped immortalize the Doors' appearance over that of the many acts who appeared on the show countless times.

Manzarek laughs. "We're still talking about it 35 years later," he says. "We're still doing Ed Sullivan."

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Have you ever heard of the "FISH Cheer"? If you bought Country Joe & The Fish's "I Feel Like I'm Fixin' To Die" LP, that's what you got. But if you were at Woodstock (#1 in Bethany, NY), you know the opening cheer for "The I Feel Like I'm Fixin' To Die Rag," had nothing to to do with fish. So, "Gimme an F! Gimme a U! Gimme a C! Gimme a K! What's that spell?" :hippie:

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  • 2 months later...
  • 11 months later...

The Knack's "My Sharona" - they brutally edit out the majority of Berton's guitar solo. Oh, did I forget to mention that that full album cut happens to be my all-time favourite guitar solo?

Single edits are bad for eliminating the middle parts and/or extra verses, choruses, etc.

Tommy James & the Shondell's "Crimson & Clover." However, Tommy actually wrote the single version first. It was later on while recording the album either he and/or producer decided to add that great middle part. If you own the original, listen closely and you'll notice the key drops 1/2 step during that middle section. Well regardless, I prefer that full album version.

:guitar:

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